The New York Police Department is deploying a surge of detectives to patrol an increasingly mean new beat: Facebook and other social networks.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday that he's doubling the number of detectives assigned to combating local teen gangs and that increased surveillance of social networks will be a major part of the strategy.

The gangs under scrutiny are not the big, established outfits like the Bloods and Crips, which are well known around the United States, but neighborhood groups fighting over loyalties often to just one part of a housing project or other limited turf.

"Under a program we've named Operation Crew Cut, the Department intends to double the size of its Gang Division from approximately 150 detectives to 300 phased in over a period of time," Kelly said in prepared remarks to a police conference in San Diego, California.

The propensity of the social media addicted youths to use Facebook and other networks to "brag about their murderous exploits" means detectives will be watching their screens, as much as the streets.

"In addition to tracking the admissions of criminal conduct and plans of future crimes by crew members on Facebook, You Tube and elsewhere, the division will be responsible for maintaining a dictionary of sorts with a continually updated lexicon employed by crews as a kind of code," Kelly said.

Officers will infiltrate gangs under online aliases registered with their superiors. They will also be allowed to use untraceable Internet cards on their laptops.

Kelly, who runs one of the world's most technologically advanced police departments, with a rapidly growing surveillance capability, said measures were being taken to ensure that monitoring the networks does not go too far.

"Recently, we issued new guidelines for officers using social media as part of criminal investigations. We did this to instill the proper balance between the investigative potential of social network sites and privacy expectations," he said.

The initiative reflects a shift in crime away from murder, which is down 18 percent so far this year, Kelly said.

However, overall crime is up four percent, largely due to a wave of teen-on-teen thefts, especially involving iPods and other Apple products.

"Like the impact on the economy itself, the allure of Apple devices has affected New York City's crime rate," Kelly said. "In 2002, we recorded a total of 86 thefts of Apple products in all of New York City. Last year that number was 13,233." (AFP)

<관련 한글 기사>

감시사회? 경찰, 페이스북 전담 형사 배치

뉴욕경찰이 증가하는 청소년들의 폭행 사건 등을 감시하기 위해 페이스북이나 다른 소셜네트워크 서비스에 대한 순찰을 강화하기 시작했다 고 AFP가 3일 보도했다.

레이몬드 켈리 뉴욕 경찰국장은 세력 다툼을 벌이고 있는 지역 청소년 갱들을 감시할 형사 수를 두 배로 늘렸으며 SNS에 대한 감시를 강화하는 것도 주요한 치안 전략의 하나가 될 것이라고 밝혔다.

그는 청소년 갱을 담당하는 형사 수를 당분간 현재 150명에서 300명으로 두 배 늘릴 계획이며 이들은 청소년들의 비행을 추적하는 것은 물론 페이스북이나 유튜브 등에서 이뤄지는 갱 단원들의 활동을 관찰하면서 앞으로 일어난 범죄를 미리 방지하 는 역할도 하게 된다고 말했다.

그는 특히 형사들은 또 갱 단원들이 암호 형태로 지속적으로 업데이트하고 있는 SNS에서 사용되는 어휘들에 대한 일종의 사전을 만들고 유지해야 할 책임도 있다고 덧붙였다.

페이스북이나 다른 소셜미디어에 중독된 청소년들이 그들의 폭력 행위들을 자랑 하고 싶어하는 성향 때문에 이제 형사들은 길거리 못지않게 컴퓨터 스크린도 잘 살펴봐야 한다.